New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said it has attached hundreds of acres of land in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh worth more than Rs 580 crore in a money laundering case against a Delhi-NCR-based real estate company which allegedly duped numerous homebuyers.
The probe is against ADEL Landmarks Ltd. (formerly Era Landmarks Ltd.) and its promoters Hem Singh Bharana and Sumit Bharana, the agency said in a statement.
An order was issued on Friday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for provisional attachment of 340 acres of land located in Gurugram, Faridabad, Palwal and Bahadurgarh in Haryana and Meerut and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, it said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said the total value of these plots is Rs 585.46 crore.
The money laundering case stems from 74 FIRs and chargesheets filed by Haryana and Delhi police against the company and its promoters on the charge of cheating “numerous” homebuyers by failing to deliver promised flats and units even after a delay of 12-19 years.
The ED said the realty company launched several residential group housing projects in Gurugram, Faridabad and Palwal in Haryana and collected Rs 1,075 crore as advance booking amount from 4,771 customers across eight projects — Cosmocourt, Cosmocity-I, Cosmocity-III, Skyville, Redwood Residency, Era Green World, Era Divine Court and ADEL Divine Court.
These projects, launched in 2006-2012, remain “incomplete” till today, the agency said.
The promoters “diverted” “substantial” funds collected from homebuyers to their group companies as advances for purchase of land parcels and other purposes, instead of utilising them for the completion of the promised housing projects.
According to the ED, the aggrieved customers sought refunds due to non-delivery of flats and were issued cheques by the company, many of which were “dishonoured” for various reasons.
The company “unilaterally” altered project plans and licensed land areas, including reduction of the originally proposed land, leading to the denial of basic amenities that were initially promised to the buyers, the ED said.
